In Sickness and in Health
by GleeGeneration23
Summary: As Prompted by hiyaitskerry, Ross falls ill at school and Pete is left with the frightening task of looking after him until his dad gets there, however when it becomes clear that something is terribly wrong the Barton's end up in hospital. Ages Pete 7, Ross 5, and Finn 3


**Hi Everyone this was prompted by hiyaitskerry and is Pre Show Young Barton's-if any of you guys have any prompts or stories about either the Barton or Dingle Clans then please send them in-I'll try and write them as best and as quick as I can **

**Disclaimer I don't own Emmerdale otherwise things would have seriously been different by now**

**Please Read and Review**

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In Sickness and in Health

As prompted by hiyaitskerry-Ross falls in at school and Pete is left to take care of him until their dad shows up and then things take a turn for the worst ending with the Barton's in hospital-Pre show Barton fluff, ages-Pete seven, Ross, five, Finn, three.

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Ross had been quiet all day. It was two days after April Fool's and while life had gone back to normal Ross had become quieter than usual, picking at his breakfast and sniffing occasionally. He hadn't said much had just bundled into the car and shivered once or twice.

The day had gone much quicker than before the excitement from the other two days having exhausted the three of them completely. The school day was just reaching lunchtime when Pete realised that something was really wrong with his younger brother.

When he arrived at their usual spot-overlooking when Finn generally played he was awarded the sight of his brother lying on the ground face screwed up in pain hands, clutching at his stomach. "What's wrong?" he asked and was rewarded with a groan "Stomach hurts" came the feeble reply.

Gently Pete leaned over and nudged his brother into a sitting position leaning against the corner of the wall. Even more softly he prodded Ross in the stomach and watched as his younger brother moaned and curled into himself again. Even though he was only seven something in the back of Pete's mind screamed danger-something was seriously wrong with his little brother.

Hoisting Ross up and ignoring his pained cry he slowly began to navigate the way back to the Year One classroom. Ross's teacher was marking her books and looked up when the two of them came in. Suddenly she was more aware than she had been before and then it was like a tornado had descended-the head-teacher arrived her heals clicking in the corridor as well as two nurses. There was talk about ringing their father and then Finn came up from the nursery looking confused and all the time Ross just kept getting paler and paler.

When their dad eventually arrived Pete could have cried in relief.

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When James arrived he was a mess. It was one thing getting a phone call that your son had done something stupid or had a cold and then another thing when you received a call saying that your son was so ill the school believed that they believe he needs to go to hospital.

The first thing he noticed was that Finn was sat curled at Pete's feet looking adorably confused and then Pete who was sat one the corner of the table his arm around Ross who looked nothing short of death. It was enough to make James nearly run across the classroom, gently he framed Ross head in his hands and pulled him up to face him. His son's face was clammy and pale and his eyes were dark with pain, and he was still so, so small. How had he let him get this sick and not noticed it? What kind of father was he?

"Hey Buddy" he said gently brushing a strand of Ross's hair out of his face. "Not doing to good hey?" he asked sitting on the desk and letting his son lean into him. Ross shook his head forlornly. Looking up and trying to blink something wet out of his eye he turned to the head-teacher "I'm gonna take him to hospital" he said flatly the tone of his voice brooking no argument.

Hoisting Ross up onto his hip and letting Pete and Finn scamper ahead James managed to get all three of his children into the car with minimal disturbance to Ross stomach flinching slightly as he winced quietly but otherwise made no noise. It made him put the car in fast and drive like the wind.

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When they got to the hospital James had only a few seconds with his son before he was whisked off to A and E so quickly that all James could do was stare down the hallway until Pete tugged on his sleeve eyes wide. "Is Ross gonna die dad?" he asked lip trembling and that was enough to set Finn off. Sighing against the fear that was coursing through him James sat down heavily pulling Finn onto his lap and wrapping his arm around Pete letting him lean into him "No don't be daft" he said slightly to sharp with fear to be completely convincing.

"Ross is going to be fine boys" he said firmly "Don't you worry" but he was wondering in the back of his mind-was he trying to convince the boys or himself.

It was some time later, when the nurse came to see him-Finn had fallen asleep while Pete was playing a game on James phone. James was just wondering what the hell was going on (and Christ was his boy really that sick?) when a young nurse came up to him.

"Mr Barton?" she asked smiling slightly as James tried to move Finn so he could stand up "Yeah" he said sticking his hand in his pocket to stop them trembling "What's wrong with Ross?" he asked bluntly "Ross has a an acute appendicitis" she said flatly "We think It must have burst a few days ago and unfortunately it needs to be operated on now before the infection gets any worse."

James stared at her bleakly just at the beginning of the week his sons were hiding in the barn as an April fool's joke and now Ross at the age of five was facing a major operation! He felt sick.

He followed another nurse with the instruction to Pete to watch Finn and walked into the room where they would soon be operating on his son. Ross was in the bed at the far end in a white gown. There was something about seeing his five year old son in the hospital the whiteness of the sheets contrasting horribly with the darkness of his hair.

He sat down heavily at the corner of the bed softly brushing his son's dark hair of his head. "Hey Kid" he said softly watching as Ross struggled to sit up "Hey" he said Just as soft "You just stay where you are and I promise you that when you wake up I'll be there ok?"

Ross nodded whimpering again and before closing his eyes. Gently James pressed a kiss to Ross's head and watched as the nurse's came in to begin the pre-op prep.

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It was a least three hours later when the nurse came back. By this point James was a mess of bad coffee and nerves and the boys were beginning to pick up on it. Finn was eating nearly everything he could get his hands on in the vending machines and Pete was no better. With both of his boys on a sugar high all James wanted to do was scoop Ross up and take them home, where he could protect his boys.

The nice nurse however took this moment to come back, her face shining. "Good news Mr Barton" she said smiling "Ross was brilliant during the operation, we managed to stop the fluid from spreading with little fuss-all in all it went brilliant"

James sighed one bending over and placing his head in his hands for a moment-sat out here with no control over what was happening to his little boy was enough to make him feel sick-his mind conquering up all sorts of images and scenario's and then the what-if and the questions about all the things that could go wrong started nagging at his head, making it impossible to think of anything other than what could go wrong.

He was interrupted by Pete who was jumping up and down on his seat "Dad" he said grinning "Can we go see Ross now?" laughing slightly in pure relief James turned to the nurse "Can we?" he asked his voice slightly more desperate than usual with the need to see his son.

The nurse smiled again and nodded "Sure" she said "He'll still be woozy from the anaesthetic but you should be able to see him. Were gonna keep him in for at least another twenty-four hours and then were going to take him home." As she was saying all this the Barton's were following them Finn on James hip and Pete trailing behind. "If the scar has any inflammations or any other problems occur bring him straight back in" nodding once James turned into the room where Ross was. He already looked slightly better, he was still pale and his hair still stuck to his face but he was smiling and the whimpering had stopped.

"Hey kid" James said gently "You scared me today" he looked up to see Finn sat on Pete's lap and he looked at his boys. He realised that Ross must have been sick for at least a couple of days and hadn't told him. Looking at his boys again he realised how close he had come to losing one of them today, he shuddered slightly at the thought. Suddenly he felt the urge to cry, and vowed to be better, he had to be better, his boys needed better and in that hospital room on that day James vowed to be better.

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